Divers plumb depths ahead of public river swim (From This Is Wiltshire)

Divers plumb depths ahead of public river swim

9:00pm Friday 27th August 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Intrepid divers from the Calne Sub Aqua Club cleared up the River Avon ahead of this weekend’s River Festival.

Five divers took to the water, dragging out numerous shopping trolleys and other rubbish to make sure the river is safe for raft racers and swimmers.

Club chairman Phil Gornall said: “It was actually very good this year, I think because we cleared so much last year.

“The river is now safe, so if anyone is kicking their legs around, or falls out of a raft, they should be fine.”

The team of divers, more used to the underwater sights of Swanage, Lyme Regis and the more exotic sea life in Egypt, handed their finds to Wiltshire Council for destruction.

Open water swimmers will enjoy the clean conditions on Sunday afternoon, when the River Festival hosts its first-ever public swimming session at 3pm. The festival opens at 10am tomorrow (Saturday) with a Red Devils parachute jump at 12.30pm. The Invensys Rail Raft Race will be held at 3pm and on Sunday, kayaking and canoeing will feature before the Pirate finale at 4pm.